I've made no secret about my disdain for the Cincinnati Bengals' loyalty to Drew Sample. They love the guy so much that they refuse to budge him from the top of the depth chart, even though a seventh-round rookie in Jack Endries is almost certainly a better player right now.
To be fair, Sample didn't ask to be the team's TE1 any more than he asked to be drafted in the second round back in 2019. Duke Tobin and Zac Taylor simply can't quit him. Plus, Mike Gesicki isn't really a tight end, and Erick All Jr. should remedy my TE1 pet peeve as soon as this season.
But let's not overlook Endries, who's drawing such high marks from Taylor already that I question why on Earth Sample is still even on the roster.
Endries' emergence makes Drew Sample an even bigger redundancy
NBC 5's Charlie Clifford (what a gem, he keeps tweeting quote nuggets of gold) posted a little while back what Zac Taylor had to say on Jack Endries making the 53-man roster:
"We drafted Jack for his pass game value and he made the team because of what he showed in the run game."Zac Taylor on Jack Endries
Tight ends have never been a massive part of the Bengals' offense during the Joe Burrow era. It's been a rotation of one-year stopgap vets like Hayden Hurst, Irv Smith Jr. and others of that ilk.
Drew Sample is the only constant. The Bengals refused to add to that room until Jack Endries was sitting there in the seventh round of this year's draft. They finally pulled the trigger because Endries was too good to pass up.
Endries caught a 4-yard touchdown from Joe Flacco in the preseason opener against the Lions. He wrapped up his college career at Cal and Texas hauling in passes from the likes of Fernando Mendoza and Arch Manning.
And guess what? Soon enough, Endries will be nabbing pinpoint laser-accurate tosses from Joe Burrow.
But if Endries is such a credible blocker, and All is so willing in that department, what is the actual point of Sample getting significant run? Wouldn't it be better to, you know, bench him and prioritize getting All reintigrated after missing all of last season, and fast-tracking Endries' development?
Well, at least on the first of those fronts, Taylor has designs to deploy All to the fullest extend he can.
Taylor's plans for Erick All Jr. only furthers the Sample separation argument
As the Bengals move to a more under center offense this year, I guess I get the case for keeping Drew Sample, since Jack Endries is still getting his feet wet in the NFL. However, I would much rather let Endries take his lumps and let the chips fall where they may. Deploy Sample only in case of emergency.
...Why do I say this? Because Zac Taylor is out here hyping up Erick All Jr. like you wouldn't believe:
In case you were wondering if the unleashing of Erick All is coming, I offered two options for an early season vision to Zac Taylor.
— Paul Dehner Jr. (@pauldehnerjr) September 1, 2026
1) Full workload, no reservations.
2) Touch and go to see how he responds.
“The first one. The first one.”
End of answer. Zero hesitation.
If that's the case, and Mike Gesicki is still meant to get his heavy snap count, where does that leave Sample and Endries? "Probably scrapping for what's left!" is my answer.
Would you rather have Endries scrapping for snaps, or the known-commodity, slow-footed, zero-pass-catching-upside, somewhat-middling-blocker, aging-out-of-his-prime Sample take those reps?
I know what my answer is. It should be a rhetorical question. For whatever reason, it isn't for the Bengals' coaching staff.
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